In the gloomy sky, purple lightning snakes appeared in the dark clouds, followed by the low rumbling of thunder.
The seawater crashed against the steep cliffs, creating countless white waves.
In the blink of an eye, a hidden stone door appeared in front of them.
"This damned weather!"
Two figures stood on both sides of the stone door. They were from a different race with a single horn on their heads. One of them was young, while the other was middle-aged.
The young man was already drenched. Seeing that the thunder was going to rain soon, he could not help but curse.
Facing his companion's complaints, the other man was expressionless. He was already used to it.
"I'm going to eat first."
The middle-aged being said as a massive wave crashed into the ground.
"Come back quickly. I'm hungry too."
The young man continued to complain. He just wanted to end this painful work as soon as possible.
The middle-aged man ignored him. He took out a stone key from his wet clothes and inserted it into the stone door. With a slight twist, the heavy stone door slowly opened.
The dim tunnel was very narrow, only allowing two people to enter. There were 17 forks along the way. If one went wrong, they would lose their way. Some forks even had traps. Going the wrong way meant death.
Thus, even after walking hundreds and thousands of times, the middle-aged man did not dare to be careless.
After walking for 10 minutes in the dim tunnel, his eyes suddenly lit up. He had already arrived at a huge cave.
There were rows of bookshelves in the cave, and there were also all kinds of books on the walls.
A conservative estimate was that there were over 10,000 books.
Under the humid air, the smell of books was somewhat pungent.
In the hall, an old man in a brocade robe was sitting on a stone chair covered in soft demonic beast fur, flipping through the books in his hands.
The old man was as thin as a match. His long gray hair was messy and scattered behind his head.
His hands were covered in earthworm-like veins. His weather-beaten face was full of wrinkles, and he looked lethargic. There was not much vitality in his body.
But even so, he still sat upright on the stone chair, maintaining the unique demeanor of a scholar. Beneath his sunken eyes hid a pair of bright eyes that contained wisdom.
In the hall, other than the old man, there were 18 other people with weapons scattered around. Their mission was to guard the old man.
Some of them had been guarding him for 30 years and were already used to this kind of work and life.
Although this kind of work was very boring, it was also very relaxing.
Because this place was very hidden, built on the edge of a cliff, ordinary people would not be able to find it at all.
Even if they found it, it would be difficult to cross the dangerous sea to reach this place.
Even if he did find it, there were too many forks in the road, and he would die if he wasn't careful.
No one could come here without being noticed.
Even if they really came here, they could instantly take control of the old man and kill him.
Over the past thirty-seven years, five groups of people had come to rescue this old man. Among them, three groups had fled without even seeing his face. More than half of them had died or were injured.
Although the other two groups were able to see each other, they were completely wiped out in the end.
It had been 12 years since anyone had come to rescue them.
The sound of footsteps could be heard as a figure appeared at a fork in the tunnel. It was an alien wearing a yellow robe.
Twenty-one figures followed behind him.
These figures had iron chains on their hands and feet. They were all humans. There were men and women, old and young. There were even two children who were five or six years old.
Some of these people's faces were ashen, and some of them were terrified. Their bodies were trembling, and one of the children was crying out of fear.
The sound of crying reverberated in the cave, sounding a little ear-piercing. Many non-humankind beings frowned as their eyes flashed with killing intent.
"Shut up."
An angry scolding was heard, and the crying stopped abruptly.
At this moment, a young girl covered the child's mouth, not daring to let him make a sound.
Along the way, they had seen the cruel methods of the non-humankind and knew the consequences of angering them.
The crying stopped. The alien man held two books in his right hand and walked towards the old man. Amidst the clanking of metal, the others followed closely behind.
Coming in front of the old man, the alien man threw the books in front of him and said, "This is the cultivation method of your human race, 'Fire Prairie'. This is the cultivation method of the non-humankind, 'Heavenly Fire Art'. Sir said that there are similarities between them. You know what to do. You have to complete it within a week."
Zhou Chengfeng looked at the two books in front of him, his eyes abnormally calm.
He wanted to refuse, but he couldn't.
If he refused, the twenty-one people in front of him would be cruelly slaughtered.
Moreover, it would be in front of him.
He had once refused, ignoring the pleas and screams, but in the end, he chose to compromise.
If he failed or exceeded the time limit, he would also die.
Twenty-one people. If he exceeded the time limit, one would die every day. If he died, there would be new people joining him until the mission was completed.
If he could choose, he would kill himself without hesitation. However, he couldn't even do it now.
Even if he died, the other party would give him a new body.
He had seen such methods before.
It was evil and disgusting, so he didn't even dare to kill himself.
"Be obedient, don't look for trouble."
Seeing that Zhou Chengfeng was still silent, the alien man didn't mind and left after saying that.
"Be obedient and enter the iron cage."
After the alien man left, the twenty-one people were chased into an iron cage with a diameter of five meters by the two aliens, as if they were imprisoning animals.
This iron cage was ten meters in front of the old man.
One could see it by looking up.
Inside the iron cage, apart from the children, everyone else was staring at the old man, their eyes filled with desire and hope.
They knew that whether they could survive or not depended on the old man in front of them.
Facing these gazes, Zhou Chengfeng averted his gaze and sighed slightly.
When would these days end?
In the past thirty-seven years, he had analyzed hundreds of human cultivation methods and martial skills for the alien race. How could he make up for this sin?
He was a sinner!
He didn't know how many humans had died because of the cultivation methods he analyzed.
Zhou Chengfeng lowered his head and looked at his hands. Although they were holding a book, they were covered in blood.
In the past few years, he had analyzed many cultivation methods of the alien race, but he couldn't escape from them.
Zhou Chengfeng glanced at the twenty-one people in the iron cage, and his gaze paused on the two five or six-year-old children.
A moment later, he closed his eyes, and the soul force in his soul sea trembled.
In the next moment, his eyes emitted light, as if there were countless stars flickering in them. A layer of transparent membrane appeared from his neck, wrapping around his brain. Transparent tentacles connected to Zhou Chengfeng's head, and there seemed to be some transparent energy entering Zhou Chengfeng's brain from the tentacles.
"Photon Brain Beast!"
In the iron cage, a man looked at Zhou Chengfeng and exclaimed.
It was actually the Photon Brain Beast, ranked third on the Rare Beast List.
Although such a demon spirit didn't have any attack power, it was even more precious than the demon spirits on the Earth List.
Legend had it that the person who refined such a demon spirit would have the strongest brain in the world, with terrifyingly high intelligence.
At this moment, they understood why the alien race valued this old man so much.
They also understood why the alien race wanted to use their lives to threaten this old man.
"Stop! Do you know how many people you'll kill with your actions?
What's the point of dragging out an ignoble existence like this? "
The man asked angrily, grabbing the iron cage.
He was afraid of death, but he didn't want to live in humiliation.
As a martial artist, he knew that a wise man who could analyze cultivation methods was far more terrifying than an Emperor. It was also far more dangerous.
Zhou Chengfeng opened his eyes slightly, and the light in his eyes seemed to materialize. With the help of the demon spirit, all the information about the man appeared in his mind.
"Between 40 and 43 years old, left-handed, sword cultivator, seventh-stage Skysoar Realm martial artist, no demon spirit …"
Zhou Chengfeng didn't refute, nor did he explain. He only silently endured the middle-aged man's questions and even curses.
"That's right. Let's die and end everything. Don't work for the alien race."
"Old man, you've lived for so long. Why are you still not satisfied?
How can you still have the face to live?
I really want to vomit on your face. "
"Shut up! If you want to die, go die yourself. Don't drag us into it!"
"I don't want to die yet. My parents are still waiting for me."
"The alien race won't let us go so easily. If we die, so be it."
In the face of death, everyone had different thoughts and feelings. Some people felt that death was the end of everything, while others would rather drag out an ignoble existence.
Facing the begging and curses, Zhou Chengfeng remained calm. He chose to ignore them. His gaze returned to the cultivation method. With the help of the super brain, the cultivation method in his hand started to be analyzed.